Been listening to a lot of gypsy jazz, New Orleans jazz and similar sort of stuff, and the sound of the clarinet has been really appealing to me, and I had a good autumn work wise, so today decided to take the leap and rent a starter clarinet, with a view to buying it (I can put the 1st 6 months rent against the purchase price). I ended up getting a John Packer entry model, the lady in the shop who was helping me out said there was little to be gained from getting one of the more expensive entry models, but I did end up getting an upgraded, yamaha, mouthpiece.
1st impressions are it's a bit of a trick to get a consistent tone from it, so spent most of the afternoon, in small doses (cos it's hard work on little used muscles) getting a consistent embouchure, but think I'm getting there. Got my 1st lesson booked next weds, so really looking forwards to that.
I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.
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The last band I was in we had a alto/tenor sax player and I was amazed when he revealed he had only been playing for two years. (He said he had a very understanding wife..???) So it's clearly possible to make progress very quickly. I do remember he spent a lot of money on mouthpieces though.
It does seem to me, in my initial forays into playing the thing, that breathe control is paramount, mastering that does seem to be the challenge.
Another thing that springs to mind is just how much spit is involved in the thing, playing it is like a one man (or woman) Sex Pistols gig!!!
I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.
I remember in my brass band days we used to end up with little puddles by our feet.
I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.
I'm wrestling with this myself at the moment, I've mentioned in a few posts that my left hand is permanently damaged from an accident about five years ago and I get to a stage with playing the guitar where I'm reminded how I could play before and it's a bit depressing. So I think starting something new from scratch might be the way to go, though I can't see myself returning to the brass section even if it is in my DNA.
I'll be very interested to hear about your progress - do keep us informed.
@EricTheWeary yeah - I do wonder about the 60's, some years ago we were looking for a drummer and one of our lot knew a guy who knew a guy..etc etc anyway there was this bloke who had apparently played drums in the 60's in Liverpool bands so, he's got to be good we thought. Honestly he was absolutely bloody hopeless. We tried out a few simple Chuck Berry songs and it ended up with me sitting at the kit showing him how/what to play. I really do wonder about the standard of musicianship in those days, we tend to think of all the greats than started off in the 60's forgetting that there must have been scores of bands who were barely competent. I was reading something recently I forget who it was, someone well known, said they got in a band because they knew five chords and the others only knew three (actually I think it might have been Ray Davies).
Standards were lower generally I suppose, my dad used to book entertainment for the local miners social club, he knew blokes like Paul Shane (Hi de Hi), Charlie Williams, Norman Collier and various others who now seem to be fixtures in Last of the Summer Wine. But my mum says the vast majority of "turns" were truly dreadful it was just better than sitting at home.
I'm finding the issues with my left hand is making guitar playing almost impossible, so I'm glad I've found this for me, I think it's something I could get properly into.
I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.
I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.